Geography

Eïones was a kind of village which the Mycenaei depopulated, and converted into a station for vessels. It was afterwards destroyed, and is no longer a naval station.

Troezen is sacred to Neptune, from whom it was formerly called Poseidonia. It is situated 15 stadia from the sea. Nor is this an obscure city. In front of its harbour, called Pogon, lies Calauria, a small island, of about 30 stadia in compass. Here was a temple of Neptune, which served as an asylum for fugitives. It is said that this god exchanged Delos for Calauria with Latona, and Taenarum for Pytho with Apollo. Ephorus mentions the oracle respecting it: It is the same thing to possess Delos, or Calauria, The divine Pytho, or the windy Taenarum.

There was a sort of Amphictyonic body to whom the concerns of this temple belonged, consisting of seven cities, which performed sacrifices in common. These were Hermon, Epidaurus, Aegina, Athenae, Prasiae, Nauplia, and Orchomenus Minyeius. The Argives contributed in behalf of Nauplia, and the Lacedaemonians in behalf of Prasiae. The veneration for this god prevailed so strongly among the Greeks, that the Macedonians, even when masters of the country, nevertheless preserved even to the present time the privilege of the asylum, and were restrained by shame from dragging away the suppliants who took refuge at Calauria. Archias even, with a body of soldiers, did not dare to use force to Demosthenes, although he had received orders from Antipater to bring him alive, and all other orators he could find, who were accused of the same crimes. He attempted persuasion, hut in vain, for Demosthenes deprived himself of life by taking poison in the temple.

Troezen and Pittheus, the sons of Pelops, having set out from Pisatis to Argos, the former left behind him a city of his own name; Pittheus succeeded him, and became king. Anthes, who occupied the territory before, set sail, and founded Halicarnassus. We shall speak of him in our account of Caria and the Troad.

Epidaurus was called Epitaurus [Epicarus?]. Aristotle says, that Carians occupied both this place and Hermione, but upon the return of the Heracleidae those Ionians, who had accompanied them from the Athenian Tetrapolis to Argos, settled there together with the Carians.

Epidaurus was a distinguished city, remarkable particularly on account of the fame of Aesculapius, who was supposed to cure every kind of disease, and whose temple is crowded constantly with sick persons, and its walls covered with votive tablets, which are hung upon the walls, and contain accounts of the cures, in the same manner as is practised at Cos, and at Tricca. The city lies in the recess of the Saronic Gulf, with a coasting navigation of 15 stadia, and its aspect is towards the point of summer sun-rise. It is surrounded with lofty mountains, which extend to the coast, so that it is strongly fortified by nature on all sides.

Between Troezen and Epidaurus, there was a fortress Methana, and a peninsula of the same name. In some copies of Thucydides Methone is the common reading, a place of the same name with the Macedonian city, at the siege of which Philip lost an eye. Hence Demetrius of Scepsis is of opinion, that some persons were led into error by the name, and supposed that it was Methone near Troezen. It was against this town, it is said, that the persons sent by Agamemnon to levy sailors, uttered the imprecation, that they might never cease to build walls, but it was not these people; but the Macedonians, according to Theopompus, who refused the levy of men; besides, it is not probable that those, who were in the neighbourhood of Agamemnon, would disobey his orders.

Aegina is a place in the territory of Epidaurus. There is in front of this continent, an island, of which the poet means to speak in the lines before cited. Wherefore some write, and the island Aegina, instead of and they who occupied Aegina, making a distinction between the places of the same name.

It is unnecessary to remark, that this island is among the most celebrated. It was the country of Aeacus and his descendants. It was this island which once possessed so much power at sea, and formerly disputed the superiority with the Athenians in the sea-fight at Salamis during the Persian war. The circuit of the island is said to be about 180 stadia. It has a city of the same name on the south-west. Around it are Attica, and Megara, and the parts of Peloponnesus as far as Epidaurus. It is distant from each about 100 stadia. The eastern and southern sides are washed by the Myrtoan and Cretan seas. Many small islands surround it on the side towards the continent, but Belbina is situated on the side towards the open sea. The land has soil at a certain depth, but it is stony at the surface, particularly the plain country, whence the whole has a bare appearance, but yields large crops of barley. It is said that the Aeginetae were called Myrmidones, not as the fable accounts for the name, when the ants were metamorphosed into men, at the time of a great famine, by the prayer of Aeacus; but because by digging, like ants, they threw up the earth upon the rocks, and were thus made able to cultivate the ground, and because they lived in excavations under-ground, abstaining from the use of bricks and sparing of the soil for this purpose.

Its ancient name was Oenone, which is the name of two of the demi in Attica, one near Eleuthera; to inhabit the plains close to Oenone, (Oenoe,) and Eleutherae; and another, one of the cities of the Tetrapolis near Marathon, to which the proverb is applied, Oenone (Oenoe?) and its torrent. Its inhabitants were in succession Argives, Cretans, Epidauri ans, and Dorians. At last the Athenians divided the island by lot among settlers of their own. The Lacedaemonians, however, deprived the Athenians of it, and restored it to the ancient inhabitants.

The Aeginetae sent out colonists to Cydonia in Crete, and to the Ombrici. According to Ephorus, silver was first struck as money by Pheidon. The island became a mart, the inhabitants, on account of the fertility of its soil, employing themselves at sea as traders; whence goods of a small kind had the name of Aegina wares.

The poet frequently speaks of places in succession as they are situated; they who inhabited Hyria, and Aulis; and they who occupied Argos, and Tiryns, Hermione, and Asine, Troezen, and Eiones. At other times he does not observe any order; Schoenus, and Scolus, Thespeia, and Graea. He also mentions together places on the continent and islands; they who held Ithaca, and inhabited Crocyleia, for Crocyleia is in Acarnania. Thus he here joins with Aegina Mases, which belongs to the continent of Argolis.

Homer does not mention Thyreae, but other writers speak of it as well known. It was the occasion of a contest between the three hundred Argives against the same number of Lacedaemonians; the latter were conquerors by means of a stratagem of Othryadas. Thucydides places Thyreae in Cynuria, on the confines of Argia and Laconia.

Hysiae also is a celebrated place in Argolica; and Cenchreae, which lies on the road from Tegea to Argos, over the mountain Parthenius, and the Creopolus. But Homer was not acquainted with either of these places, [nor with the Lyrceium, nor Orneae, and yet they are villages in the Argian territory; the former of the same name as the mountain there; the latter of the same name as the Orneae, situated between Corinth and Sicyon].

Among the cities of the Peloponnesus, the most celebrated were, and are at this time, Argos and Sparta, and as their renown is spread everywhere, it is not necessary to describe them at length, for if we did so, we should seem to repeat what is said by all writers.

Anciently, Argos was the most celebrated, but afterwards the Lacedaemonians obtained the superiority, and continued to maintain their independence, except during some short interval, when they experienced a reverse of fortune.

The Argives did not admit Pyrrhus within the city. He fell before the walls, an old woman having let a tile drop from a house upon his head.

They were, however, under the sway of other kings. When they belonged to the Achaean league they were subjected, together with the other members of that confederacy, to the power of the Romans. The city subsists at present, and is second in rank to Sparta.

We shall next speak of those places which are said, in the Catalogue of the Ships, to be under the government of Mycenae and Agamemnon: the lines are these: Those who inhabited Mycenae, a well-built city, and the wealthy Corinth, and Cleonae well built, and Orneiae, and the lovely Araethyrea, and Sicyon, where Adrastus first reigned, and they who inhabited Hyperesia, and the lofty Gonoessa and Pellene, and Aegium, and the whole range of the coast, and those who lived near the spacious Helice.

Mycenae exists no longer. It was founded by Perseus. Sthenelus succeeded Perseus; and Eurystheus, Sthenelus. These same persons were kings of Argos also. It is said that Eurystheus, having engaged, with the assistance of the Athenians, in an expedition to Marathon against the descendants of Hercules and Iolaus, fell in battle, and that the remainder of his body was buried at Gargettus, but his head apart from it at Tricorythus (Corinth?), Iolaus having severed it from the body near the fountain Macaria, close to the chariot-road. The spot itself has the name of Eurystheus’-head.

Mycenae then passed into the possession of the Pelopidae who had left the Pisatis, then into that of the Heracleidaae, who were also masters of Argos. But after the sea-fight at Salamis, the Argives, together with the Cleonaei, and the Tegetae, invaded Mycenae, and razed it, and divided the territory among themselves. The tragic writers, on account of the proximity of the two cities, speak of them as one, and use the name of one for the other. Euripides in the same play calls the same city in one place Mycenae, and in another Argos, as in the Iphigeneia, and in the Orestes.

Cleonae is a town situated upon the road leading from Argos to Corinth, on an eminence, which is surrounded on all sides by dwellings, and well fortified, whence, in my opinion, Cleonae was properly described as well built. There also, between Cleonae and Phlius, is Nemea, and the grove where it was the custom of the Argives to celebrate the Nemean games: here is the scene of the fable of the Nemean Lion, and here also the village Bembina. Cleonae is distant from Argos 120 stadia, and 80 from Corinth. And we have ourselves beheld the city from the Acrocorinthus.

Corinth is said to be opulent from its mart. It is situated upon the isthmus. It commands two harbours, one near Asia, the other near Italy, and facilitates, by reason of so short a distance between them, an exchange of commodities on each side.

As the Sicilian strait, so formerly these seas were of difficult navigation, and particularly the sea above Maleae, on account of the prevalence of contrary winds; whence the common proverb, When you double Maleae forget your home. It was a desirable thing for the merchants coming from Asia, and from Italy, to discharge their lading at Corinth without being obliged to double Cape Maleae. For goods exported from Peloponnesus, or imported by land, a toll was paid to those who had the keys of the country. This continued afterterwards for ever. In after-times they enjoyed even additional advantages, for the Isthmian games, which were celebrated there, brought thither great multitudes of people. The Bacchiadae, a rich and numerous family, and of illustrious descent, were their rulers, governed the state for nearly two hundred years, and peaceably enjoyed the profits of the mart. Their power was destroyed by Cypselus, who became king himself, and his descendants continued to exist for three generations. A proof of the wealth of this family is the offering which Cypselus dedicated at Olympia, a statue of Jupiter of beaten gold.

Demaratus, one of those who had been tyrant at Corinth, flying from the seditions which prevailed there, carried with him from his home to Tyrrhenia so much wealth, that he became sovereign of the city which had received him, and his son became even king of the Romans.

The temple of Venus at Corinth was so rich, that it had more than a thousand women consecrated to the service of the goddess, courtesans, whom both men and women had dedicated as offerings to the goddess. The city was frequented and enriched by the multitudes who resorted thither on account of these women. Masters of ships freely squandered all their money, and hence the proverb, It is not in every man’s power to go to Corinth. The answer is related of a courtesan to a woman who was reproaching her with disliking work, and not employing herself in spinning; Although I am what you see, yet, in this short time, I have already finished three distaffs.

The position of the city as it is described by Hieronymus, and Eudoxus, and others, and from our own observation, since its restoration by the Romans, is as follows.

That which is called the Acrocorinthus is a lofty mountain, perpendicular, and about three stadia and a half in height. There is an ascent of 30 stadia, and it terminates in a sharp point. The steepest part is towards the north. Below it lies the city in a plain of the form of a trapezium, at the very foot of the Acrocorinthus. The compass of the city itself was 40 stadia, and all that part which was not protected by the mountain was fortified by a wall. Even the mountain itself, the Acrocorinthus, was comprehended within this wall, wherever it would admit of fortification. As I ascended it, the ruins of the circuit of the foundation were apparent, which gave a circumference of about 85 stadia. The other sides of the mountain are less steep; hence, however, it stretches onwards, and is visible everywhere. The summit has upon it a small temple of Venus, and below it is the fountain Peirene, which has no efflux, but is continually full of water, which is transparent, and fit for drinking. They say, that from the compression of this, and of some other small under-ground veins, originates that spring at the foot of the mountain, which runs into the city, and furnishes the inhabitants with a sufficient supply of water. There is a large number of wells in the city, and it is said in the Acrocorinthus also, but this I did not see. When Euripides says, I come from the Acrocorinthus, well-watered on all sides, the sacred hill and habitation of Venus, the epithet well-watered on all sides, must be understood to refer to depth; pure springs and under-ground rills are dispersed through the mountain; or we must suppose, that, anciently, the Peirene overflowed, and irrigated the mountain. There, it is said, Pegasus was taken by Bellerophon, while drinking; this was a winged horse, which sprung from the neck of Medusa when the head of the Gorgon was severed from the body. This was the horse, it is said, which caused the Hippocrene, or Horse’s Fountain, to spring up in Helicon by striking the rock with its hoof.

Below Peirene is the Sisypheium, which preserves a large portion of the ruins of a temple, or palace, built of white marble. From the summit towards the north are seen Parnassus and Helicon, lofty mountains covered with snow; then the Crissaean Gulf, lying below both, and surrounded by Phocis, Boeotia, Megaris, by the Corinthian district opposite to Phocis, and by Sicyonia on the west. * * * *

Above all these are situated the Oneia mountains, as they are called, extending as far as Boeotia and Cithaeron, from the Sceironides rocks, where the road leads along them to Attica.

Lechaeum is the commencement of the coast on one side; and on the other, Cenchreae, a village with a harbour, distant from the city about 70 stadia. The latter serves for the trade with Asia, and Lechaeum for that with Italy.

Lechaeum is situated below the city, and is not well inhabited. There are long walls of about 12 stadia in length, stretching on each side of the road towards Lechaeum. The sea-shore, extending hence to Pagae in Megaris, is washed by the Corinthian Gulf. It is curved, and forms the Diolcus, or the passage along which vessels are drawn over the Isthmus to the opposite coast at Schoenus near Cenchreae.

Between Lechaeum and Pagae, anciently, there was the oracle of the Acraean Juno, and Olmiae, the promontory that forms the gulf, on which are situated Oenoe, and Page; the former is a fortress of the Megarians; and Oenoe is a fortress of the Corinthians.

Next to Cenchreae is Schoenus, where is the narrow part of the Diolcus, then Crommyonia. In front of this coast lies the Saronic Gulf, and the Eleusiniac, which is almost the same, and continuous with the Hermionic. Upon the Isthmus is the temple of the Isthmian Neptune, shaded above with a grove of pine trees, where the Corinthians celebrated the Isthmian games.

Crommyon is a village of the Corinthian district, and formerly belonging to that of Megaris, where is laid the scene of the fable of the Crommyonian sow, which, it is said, was the dam of the Calydonian boar, and, according to tradition, the: destruction of this sow was one of the labours of Theseus.

Tenea is a village of the Corinthian territory, where there was a temple of Apollo Teneates. It is said that Archias, who equipped a colony for Syracuse, was accompanied by a great number of settlers from this place; and that this settlement afterwards flourished more than any others, and at length had an independent form of government of its own. When they revolted from the Corinthians, they attached themselves to the Romans, and continued to subsist when Corinth was destroyed.

An answer of an oracle is circulated, which was returned to an Asiatic, who inquired whether it was better to migrate to Corinth; Corinth is prosperous, but I would belong to Tenea; which last word was perverted by some through ignorance, and altered to Tegea. Here, it is said, Polybus brought up Oedipus.

There seems to be some affinity between the Tenedii and these people, through Tennus, the son of Cycnus, according to Aristotle; the similarity, too, of the divine honours paid by both to Apollo affords no slight proof of this relationship.

The Corinthians, when subject to Philip, espoused his party very zealously, and individually conducted themselves so contemptuously towards the Romans, that persons ventured to throw down filth upon their ambassadors, when passing by their houses. They were immediately punished for these and other offences and insults. A large army was sent out under the commaud of Lucius Mummius, who razed the city. The rest of the country, as far as Macedonia, was subjected to the Romans under different generals. The Sicyonii, however, had the largest part of the Corinthian territory.

Polybius relates with regret what occurred at the capture of the city, and speaks of the indifference the soldiers showed for works of art, and the sacred offerings of the temples. He says, that he was present, and saw pictures thrown upon the ground, and soldiers playing at dice upon them. Among others, he specifies by name the picture of Bacchus by Aristeides, (to which it is said the proverb was applied, Nothing to the Bacchus,) and Hercules tortured in the robe, the gift of Deïaneira. This I have not myself seen, but I have seen the picture of the Bacchus suspended in the Demetreium at Rome, a very beautiful piece of art, which, together with the temple, was lately consumed by fire. The greatest number and the finest of the other offerings in Rome were brought from Corinth. Some of them were in the possession of the cities in the neighbourhood of Rome. For Mummius being more brave and generous than an admirer of the arts, presented them without hesitation to those who asked for them. Lucullus, having built the temple of Good Fortune, and a portico, requested of Mummius the use of some statues, under the pretext of ornamenting the temple with them at the time of its dedication, and promised to restore them. He did not, however, restore, but presented them as sacred offerings, and told Mummius to take them away if he pleased. Mummius did not resent this conduct, not caring about the statues, but obtained more honour than Lucullus, who presented them as sacred offerings.

Corinth remained a long time deserted, till at length it was restored on account of its natural advantages by divus Caesar, who sent colonists thither, who consisted, for the most part, of the descendants of free-men.

On moving the ruins, and digging open the sepulchres, an abundance of works in pottery with figures on them, and many in brass, were found. The workmanship was admired, and all the sepulchres were examined with the greatest care. Thus was obtained a large quantity of things, which were disposed of at a great price, and Rome filled with Necro-Corinthia, by which name were distinguished the articles taken out of the sepulchres, and particularly the pottery. At first these latter were held in as much esteem as the works of the Corinthian artists in brass, but this desire to have them did not continue, not only because the supply failed, but because the greatest part of them were not well executed.

The city of Corinth was large and opulent at all periods, and produced a great number of statesmen and artists. For here in particular, and at Sicyon, flourished painting, and modelling, and every art of this kind.

The soil was not very fertile; its surface was uneven and rugged, whence all writers describe Corinth as full of brows of hills, and apply the proverb, Corinth rises with brows of hills, and sinks into hollows.

Orneae has the same name as the river which flows beside it. At present it is deserted; formerly, it was well inhabited, and contained a temple of Priapus, held in veneration. It is from this place that Euphronius, (Euphorius?) the author of a poem, the Priapeia, applies the epithet Orneates to the god.

It was situated above the plain of the Sicyonians, but the Argives were masters of the country.

Araethyrea is now called Phliasia. It had a city of the same name as the country near the mountain Celossa. They afterwards removed thence and built a city at the distance of 30 stadia, which they called Phlius. Part of the mountain Celossa is the Carneates, whence the Asopus takes its rise, which flows by Sicyon, and forms the Asopian district, which is a part of Sicyonia. There is also an Asopus, which flows by Thebes, and Plataea, and Tanagra. There is another also in Heracleia Trachinia, which flows beside a village, called Parasopii, and a fourth at Paros.